2 Samuel 7:1-14
Mark 6:30-56
The message for this morning is a difficult one for us to hear, for we are a people of Accomplishment. We see a purpose and apply ourselves, and it is done. We are easily convinced of WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS, or of the works themselves, and have difficulty not only trusting GOD'S GRACE, but trusting that Grace will come in the future that is not possible now.
It is hard for us to wait, to allow time to heal and time to pass. We are a people conditioned to CONTROL, to have what we want, and to have when we want.
Reading over the Story of David, I am struck by the reversal compared to our lives. We purchase a piece of real estate, we pay taxes on that, we desire unlimited freedom to build whatever may occur to us in the future, yet what we are issued is a permit to be able to do this specific thing in these colors this far away from the road, this far away from the neighbors, this far from the lake. David wanted a permitted to build a Temple for God, and instead of that permission was given unconditional trust and commitment for all time to come.
There is a tension in this passage, that first the Prophet Nathan says “Go For It”, but the next day stops the King and says NO. The tension is not over Variances or Set backs, or even the traditional understanding that King David has too much blood on his hands to be able to build a Temple for the Lord. The tension, is an internal tension within faith. Building a Temple, a Church, is a location for God, a containment, security, that whenever I need God, I can come to this place and have God and then I can leave God to do what I desire. God complains through Nathan, that as far back as Moses, as long as anyone can remember God was known in the wilderness, in a Tent or Tabernacle of Meeting, but not in any permanent place. God is so much bigger than we can ever imagine.
What is truly amazing in this passage is very subtle and easily missed.
Up until this promise, faith has been Conditional. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, to Saul, even back to Adam and Eve, God had promised IF YOU will follow and be faithful THEN GOD WILL provide. There is no IF/THEN in this promise. This is UNCONDITIONAL GRACE. God will make of you a people of God for ever. We are the recipients of that promise, and it carries through us into the future. Faith is no longer contractual, the covenant has been cut deeper, not simply into the flesh of this generation, but for all peoples, for ever. Being timeless, for ever, faith does not come on our calendar and timetables. LORD, Next Tuesday I want to fall in love. Praying in January, LORD I want it to stop snowing. And yet, to pray, LORD, do not forget us, but use us for your purposes, heal the concerns we have named, have mercy upon the poor and the afflicted, that we might see Thy Kingdom Come.
Jesus, descended from David did heal the concerns and had mercy upon the poor and the afflicted, but the UnConditional Nature of Grace was difficult for even the disciples to imagine. They had been sent out in his name by two and they had seen miracles. Together they did things none imagined they could do. Yet still, having been part of this, they came back to Jesus, and matter of factly, not as if it would be accomplishing a miracle, but rather witnessing the needs of the people and responding he commanded his disciples FEED THE PEOPLE. To which the Disciples, who had been out in the world teaching, baptizing and healing, said HOW? Remember that there are some 5000 people gathered and listening. Many of us are planning vacations at this time of year, we pack suitcases, we MapQuest Directions, we book places to stay and set reservations, in order that our needs will be met. This people heard that Jesus was going to be in a deserted place, and they dropped everything, they did not plan for what we have to take. They went to see and to listen, without any other concerns. That is the Challenge of FAITH to the David's desire to build the Temple. As much as we may adore Stained Glass windows and the music of Pipe Organ, Choirs, programs for our children. FAITH touches something inside you, more basic than food or shelter, or security. To see and hear and receive the blessing. But it also speaks to who Jesus is. For with 5000 people gathered, he was not concerned with LASER LIGHT SHOWS, PYROTECHNICS, or costumes, his concerns were for the people.
This last week, our Former Secretary brought friends to the Church who had been members decades ago and tried to describe who we are and what the Church represents in the community. They began most recently that we had built a Clinic and provided Health Care in Sudan. They described the Skaneateles Festival and the gift of Music this Church provides to the community, describing the Hand bells and the Organ. They described a woman who makes over 100 caps and mittens for children. They described having been in worship, when not only did we pick up and comfort babies, but we had handed babies to a soldier going off to war, we placed a baby in the arms of a child going far from home and promised to pray for them. She described having been in Finance Committee meetings as we anticipated pledging two Capital Campaigns while increasing the Budget and that people brought projections of debt 30 and 50 years into the future. After listening a long time, I said among my favorite memories was the summer when we were rebuilding the Church, when we had our offices in the Narthex so we could be available to people, and all the Committees, even Deacons and Session met simultaneously in the Sanctuary, suddenly realizing all the Church was not about Christian Education, or Mission, or Worship, but all of these were parts of the Church. About that time, two architects stopped in to investigate possibilities for geo-thermal heating and cooling. That using the difference between ground and air temperatures we could provide heating and cooling, Suddenly we began to imagine the Church making a commitment to having a resource for the community's needs a hundred years from now with heating and cooling provided by the earth's temperatures with no cost! It would be easy to describe ourselves by our accomplishments, but the question of faith is whether we can be patient with knowing that God will be present in this place, even more IN THIS PEOPLE, long into the future.
After feeding the people, Jesus sent the disciples ahead in a boat while he dismissed the crowd. He went up on the mountain to pray. Then coming down to where the Disciples were, he saw them in the middle of the lake, struggling to row against the wind. So he walked out to them. They had seen Jesus heal and teach. They had been sent out by him, and had themselves been part of miracles, they had returned and heard him teach anew and seen him feed 5000 with two fish and a few loaves of bread. But seeing him walk on the water, they were terrified.
Even with all we have seen. The miracles we have been a part of. Still it is difficult at times for us to trust and to believe.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Lord of the Dance, July 12, 2009
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Mark 6: 14-29
Part of the beauty of faith, comes in reflection upon the words, for what WORD we hear, looking beyond and beneath the circumstances for the meaning and importance of what is taking place. On face value, these are each readings about the entertainment of DANCE. David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem with leaping and dancing, with music of the Harp, Cymbals and Castanets, yet one was afraid the Ark would fall, and the power of God broke out against him. At King Herod's Birthday, Salome danced the dance of the Seven Veils and the King was so taken with her, he offered her what ever she desired. DANCES of REVERENCE, of Pageantry and Ceremony, and Dances of Seduction. But more, what these passages describe, thinly veiled beneath the Dance, are ABUSES of POWER, and the LORD THAT WILL NOT BE ABUSED.
Our lives are filled with symbolism. We use the symbols of authority, of power without even thinking... The point this morning, is that we must think, we must realize WHO is the LORD and what we are doing! It is not enough, to go through the motions of life, following the rhythms and being at the right place at the right time. The SYMBOLS we surround ourselves with have power.
Yesterday morning, I met with several couples about getting married... So many couples, it began to feel like a Wedding Chapel, finishing with one and Calling out NEXT, as another couple and another went through all the same questions about FLOWERS and BRIDAL PROCESSION and vows and details. We cannot take MARRIAGE for granted, as if Everyone gets married, our relationships are too precious for that. We have been stuck trying to LEGISLATE and DEFINE what constitutes Marriage, basing our LAWS on the LEGAL BENEFITS and Obligations of the MARRIAGE CONTRACT, rather than each of us continually working on the perpetually changing relationship that is marriage. Part of what we try to help the couple realize in GETTING MARRIED, are all the symbols and traditions, and their claiming what traditions and symbols and values they want to have in their marriage. There is very little in a wedding that comes from the Bible. Jesus went to a Wedding once. Many people throughout History were married. But the actual wedding, is filled with symbols, A Unity Candle, the Bride wearing white for Virginity, throwing rice for Fertility, having an Aisle runner so your feet do not touch ground, Bride's side and Groom's to represent those who have come to witness your vows, having witnesses hear your vows because more important than written contracts Your Word, Your Vow is Your Sacred Bond.
More than the election of the 1st President in 20 years who was not named CLINTON or BUSH... More than an Administration that promises to CHANGE the Economic Structure, Change to the Banking Structure and Change to the Automotive Structure, CHANGING the Health Care system that we have all become dependent upon, Changing how our Nation is perceived by other Nations, More than all the Change we have witnessed and anticipated, DAVID brought Change to his Nation. David and his army took all Israel and Judah. David took the City of Jerusalem, to become the City of David. Under King David, God shifted the History of Israel from being the NOMADIC People of GENESIS and EXODUS and JUDGES, to becoming the DYNASTIC MONARCHY of ISRAEL, a Monarchy that would create KING SOLOMON and would build The Great Temple at Jerusalem, one wall of which, despite invasions and wars and time, still stands today. SO, If you were King David, bringing CHANGE to the Nation, What symbols from our history would you want to gather and Bring to Jerusalem? What Symbols would legitimize POWER as the OLD Fulfilled in the NEW? David recalls the ARK of the COVENANT, the ARK which with Moses, led the Nation from the Wilderness into the Promised Land, The Ark which led the People in HOLY WAR against their enemies and made them great, the ARK containing the TEN COMMANDMENTS.
King David envisioned creating a place to CARE FOR this ancient sacred relic. For 20 years, the Ark had been abandoned in a hiding place, and now with a great parade and Dancing, the ARK would be brought on an OXCART for David to Protect. But what King David did not understand was that the ARK of the COVENANT was not a SACRED RELIC to be CARED FOR. The Ark had been a footstool for GOD. The Ark had its own POWER, for the Ark did not represent the Nation, did not represent the POWER and HISTORY of Moses. The Ark of the Covenant bore the NAME OF GOD, so was HOLY. The ARK had not been rolled about on an OXCART or Trailer, As A Thing Which is HOLY the ARK was to be carried on the Shoulders of the Priests. When they returned 3 months later, to bring the ARK as a Blessing for Jerusalem, the procession took six paces and stopped in SABBATH to Sacrifice to the LORD, then they took six steps more and stopped, and six steps more, creating a kind of DANCE to Worship the LORD. No longer was David Bringing the Ark as a Sacred Relic, as a Symbol of the Past to CARE FOR, instead the King now knew the ARK WOULD BLESS ALL JERUSALEM and through the City of David would bless the Nation, and through the Nation of Israel bless all the nations of the World.
What occurs beneath the DANCE, what motivates the rhythm is as important or more so, than the DANCING! Otherwise, symbolism becomes entertainment, amusement. We become focused on the Moment, not on where we are going, or who we are. We become caught up in providing service and in dividends, rather than in the pride of accomplishment, rather than in the creation of something with our name and God's name upon it.
I am perpetually awed by the beauty of this SANCTUARY. The original donor, did not want their name displayed. The only evidence of him is on the back of a pew, ensuring there would be a place for a stranger. He gave enough for the building of the building, but intentionally not for Stained Glass windows and Ornamentation. So the congregation went to all the original families of this Village, many of whom were not Presbyterian, but asked each for a donation for a window to honor their role in the building of this community. At the time, we took LITERALLY the Commandment to Make No Graven Image. Backing into this, that if a Craftsman made an image of a person, and that person we know to have been created in the Image of God, then any depiction of a Human person, would be an idol in the image of God. So instead, there are abstract designs, flowers of nature, allowing that which bears the likeness of God to live.
The passage from Mark is a wonderfully subtle and suggestive story. What is it about?
It is not about the Dancing. It is not about the Sacrifice of John the Baptist. Mark seduces us with this story about HOW KING HEROD was seduced. Mark subtly describes how HEROD had tried to keep JOHN the BAPTIST where he would be Safe. SAFE meaning that John could cause no harm to Herod, and John would not be attacked by Herod's Guards, because Herod was intrigued and entertained by what JOHN said. What had put John the Baptist's life in danger was that he dared to say to King Herod that HEROD was wrong, wrong for killing his brother PHILLIP to TAKE Phillip's Wife HERODIAS as his own. More than Adultery, More than Bigamy, more than Murder, HEROD had lusted after, and had made his own family member his wife. AND while John the Baptist's challenge intrigued him, Herod still did not understand, not until his BROTHER'S WIFE'S DAUGHTER seduced him with her dancing. Then, when out of drunken lust he was willing to give her half his kingdom, when he was forced to kill John the Baptist for her, Herod suddenly realized he had lusted after his own daughter, as King he had abused his Power as King of Israel, and still he did get it until JESUS and Jesus Disciples came preaching REPENTANCE. Suddenly, having been seduced into executing John the Baptist, when Herod hears of Jesus' preaching REPENTANCE, King Herod realizes that his lusting after his daughter dancing, was what John had condemned HEROD for in his lusting after his brother's wife HERODIAS, and knowing where the story goes, we know that King Herod will eventually be seduced into putting Jesus on Trial.
If Dancing were only Dancing, Dancing would be marvelous exercise and great entertainment. IF Life were only about living. But there is a LORD of the DANCE there is a God to whom we pray.
Mark 6: 14-29
Part of the beauty of faith, comes in reflection upon the words, for what WORD we hear, looking beyond and beneath the circumstances for the meaning and importance of what is taking place. On face value, these are each readings about the entertainment of DANCE. David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem with leaping and dancing, with music of the Harp, Cymbals and Castanets, yet one was afraid the Ark would fall, and the power of God broke out against him. At King Herod's Birthday, Salome danced the dance of the Seven Veils and the King was so taken with her, he offered her what ever she desired. DANCES of REVERENCE, of Pageantry and Ceremony, and Dances of Seduction. But more, what these passages describe, thinly veiled beneath the Dance, are ABUSES of POWER, and the LORD THAT WILL NOT BE ABUSED.
Our lives are filled with symbolism. We use the symbols of authority, of power without even thinking... The point this morning, is that we must think, we must realize WHO is the LORD and what we are doing! It is not enough, to go through the motions of life, following the rhythms and being at the right place at the right time. The SYMBOLS we surround ourselves with have power.
Yesterday morning, I met with several couples about getting married... So many couples, it began to feel like a Wedding Chapel, finishing with one and Calling out NEXT, as another couple and another went through all the same questions about FLOWERS and BRIDAL PROCESSION and vows and details. We cannot take MARRIAGE for granted, as if Everyone gets married, our relationships are too precious for that. We have been stuck trying to LEGISLATE and DEFINE what constitutes Marriage, basing our LAWS on the LEGAL BENEFITS and Obligations of the MARRIAGE CONTRACT, rather than each of us continually working on the perpetually changing relationship that is marriage. Part of what we try to help the couple realize in GETTING MARRIED, are all the symbols and traditions, and their claiming what traditions and symbols and values they want to have in their marriage. There is very little in a wedding that comes from the Bible. Jesus went to a Wedding once. Many people throughout History were married. But the actual wedding, is filled with symbols, A Unity Candle, the Bride wearing white for Virginity, throwing rice for Fertility, having an Aisle runner so your feet do not touch ground, Bride's side and Groom's to represent those who have come to witness your vows, having witnesses hear your vows because more important than written contracts Your Word, Your Vow is Your Sacred Bond.
More than the election of the 1st President in 20 years who was not named CLINTON or BUSH... More than an Administration that promises to CHANGE the Economic Structure, Change to the Banking Structure and Change to the Automotive Structure, CHANGING the Health Care system that we have all become dependent upon, Changing how our Nation is perceived by other Nations, More than all the Change we have witnessed and anticipated, DAVID brought Change to his Nation. David and his army took all Israel and Judah. David took the City of Jerusalem, to become the City of David. Under King David, God shifted the History of Israel from being the NOMADIC People of GENESIS and EXODUS and JUDGES, to becoming the DYNASTIC MONARCHY of ISRAEL, a Monarchy that would create KING SOLOMON and would build The Great Temple at Jerusalem, one wall of which, despite invasions and wars and time, still stands today. SO, If you were King David, bringing CHANGE to the Nation, What symbols from our history would you want to gather and Bring to Jerusalem? What Symbols would legitimize POWER as the OLD Fulfilled in the NEW? David recalls the ARK of the COVENANT, the ARK which with Moses, led the Nation from the Wilderness into the Promised Land, The Ark which led the People in HOLY WAR against their enemies and made them great, the ARK containing the TEN COMMANDMENTS.
King David envisioned creating a place to CARE FOR this ancient sacred relic. For 20 years, the Ark had been abandoned in a hiding place, and now with a great parade and Dancing, the ARK would be brought on an OXCART for David to Protect. But what King David did not understand was that the ARK of the COVENANT was not a SACRED RELIC to be CARED FOR. The Ark had been a footstool for GOD. The Ark had its own POWER, for the Ark did not represent the Nation, did not represent the POWER and HISTORY of Moses. The Ark of the Covenant bore the NAME OF GOD, so was HOLY. The ARK had not been rolled about on an OXCART or Trailer, As A Thing Which is HOLY the ARK was to be carried on the Shoulders of the Priests. When they returned 3 months later, to bring the ARK as a Blessing for Jerusalem, the procession took six paces and stopped in SABBATH to Sacrifice to the LORD, then they took six steps more and stopped, and six steps more, creating a kind of DANCE to Worship the LORD. No longer was David Bringing the Ark as a Sacred Relic, as a Symbol of the Past to CARE FOR, instead the King now knew the ARK WOULD BLESS ALL JERUSALEM and through the City of David would bless the Nation, and through the Nation of Israel bless all the nations of the World.
What occurs beneath the DANCE, what motivates the rhythm is as important or more so, than the DANCING! Otherwise, symbolism becomes entertainment, amusement. We become focused on the Moment, not on where we are going, or who we are. We become caught up in providing service and in dividends, rather than in the pride of accomplishment, rather than in the creation of something with our name and God's name upon it.
I am perpetually awed by the beauty of this SANCTUARY. The original donor, did not want their name displayed. The only evidence of him is on the back of a pew, ensuring there would be a place for a stranger. He gave enough for the building of the building, but intentionally not for Stained Glass windows and Ornamentation. So the congregation went to all the original families of this Village, many of whom were not Presbyterian, but asked each for a donation for a window to honor their role in the building of this community. At the time, we took LITERALLY the Commandment to Make No Graven Image. Backing into this, that if a Craftsman made an image of a person, and that person we know to have been created in the Image of God, then any depiction of a Human person, would be an idol in the image of God. So instead, there are abstract designs, flowers of nature, allowing that which bears the likeness of God to live.
The passage from Mark is a wonderfully subtle and suggestive story. What is it about?
It is not about the Dancing. It is not about the Sacrifice of John the Baptist. Mark seduces us with this story about HOW KING HEROD was seduced. Mark subtly describes how HEROD had tried to keep JOHN the BAPTIST where he would be Safe. SAFE meaning that John could cause no harm to Herod, and John would not be attacked by Herod's Guards, because Herod was intrigued and entertained by what JOHN said. What had put John the Baptist's life in danger was that he dared to say to King Herod that HEROD was wrong, wrong for killing his brother PHILLIP to TAKE Phillip's Wife HERODIAS as his own. More than Adultery, More than Bigamy, more than Murder, HEROD had lusted after, and had made his own family member his wife. AND while John the Baptist's challenge intrigued him, Herod still did not understand, not until his BROTHER'S WIFE'S DAUGHTER seduced him with her dancing. Then, when out of drunken lust he was willing to give her half his kingdom, when he was forced to kill John the Baptist for her, Herod suddenly realized he had lusted after his own daughter, as King he had abused his Power as King of Israel, and still he did get it until JESUS and Jesus Disciples came preaching REPENTANCE. Suddenly, having been seduced into executing John the Baptist, when Herod hears of Jesus' preaching REPENTANCE, King Herod realizes that his lusting after his daughter dancing, was what John had condemned HEROD for in his lusting after his brother's wife HERODIAS, and knowing where the story goes, we know that King Herod will eventually be seduced into putting Jesus on Trial.
If Dancing were only Dancing, Dancing would be marvelous exercise and great entertainment. IF Life were only about living. But there is a LORD of the DANCE there is a God to whom we pray.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Marvel at Unbelief, July, 5, 2009
2 Samuel 5:1-10
Mark 6: 1-13
The Gospel asks a very basic question, foundational to all that comes after.
Are we Awed by the Power of God, Can We Believe?, or Do we Marvel at Humanity's UnBelief?
It is that basic a question:
DO you want to be Married or not? Do you believe and Do you want your child to love God?
Is this Bread and Grape, or Is this the Body and Blood of the Savior that bring us closer to God?
Are we so many individuals seeking our independence, or
a Nation that so believes in Freedom, we will fight for the freedom of others?
Can we deny ourselves, take up the cross, and be the body of Christ for others?
Jesus came to his own people, his Village, his home and family and they could not get beyond “This is Mary and Joseph's boy”, “My wife's brother”, “The one who used to be a Carpenter”, their UNBELIEF prevented them from faith.
The point of the Gospel is not the same as PETER PAN, that if you believe in FAIRIES and IMAGINATION clap your hands for Tinkerbell; but rather that our ability to accept God, our ability to forgive, to believe, to be the Church, to truly sacrifice, are all limited by our unbeliefs.
The State Lottery used to say: You've Gotta Be in it, to win it.
SO Jesus' instruction to the Apostles is that if people will not listen, if they do not want to believe, shake the dust off your feet and move on. IF they do believe, enter in, and do not leave that household, until you are ready to leave the City.
In many ways, television mirrors the culture's values and questions. In the 1950s we watched young newly wed couples Dick and Laura Petrie, Ricky and Lucy Ricardo as they struggled with married life and as they each gave birth of their first child. In the 70s it was the Blended family of The Brady Bunch. Today, there are shows about 10 unrelated people living in a house or on an island together.
In the 1980s, there was a Television Show called “All in the Family” revolving around Archie Bunker, his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and her husband Mike Stivik, who lived with her parents in a little two bedroom bungalow across the river from Manhattan. In a classic episode, newlyweds Mike and Gloria find out their Pregnant, and question whether in a world as hopeless as this, a world at war, a world economically depressed, a world whose latest Reality Show is Which State's Governor will self-destruct next, a world with AIDs and Cancers, a world with 10% Unemployment, a world so addicted to energy consumption that our pollution is changing the climate, do we have a right to subject a child to this?
And finally, after all the arguments not to believe, the next door neighbor says: “But who knows? Maybe the child born to you, will be the next Gandhi? the next President? whether she could be the next JFK or Martin Luther King? Whether maybe, just possibly God might work through this child to change the world, at least to change you? Can we afford to not believe? To not want to?
This Weekend is the Anniversary of our Nation's Independence. The point of which is NOT to be able to shoot off FIREWORKS. The point of our Nation is NOT FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY. The Point of of Nation is NOT CAPITALISM and NOT FREE ENTERPRISE.
The Composer IRVING BERLIN encapsulated in music a great deal of what this nation represents. There is a Classic Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney Movie “White Christmas” in which the four leading characters sing SNOW, describing all their childhood memories of pristine white. But originally Irving Berlin had a different One Syllable Word, as the Lyric for this tune: “FREE”, Free to close the door at night not worrying about security, Free not having to bow our knee, Free to believe as we believe, FREE. The Freedom that we strive for as a Nation, is a freedom to allow others to choose to believe as they desire, free to protest, free to complain, free to hope and free to dream of possibilities that seem to others impossible.
In 1960, the Russians had launched the first rocket with a dog inside, and our President established a goal that within the Decade we would put a man on the moon. 40 years ago, this month, we began lunar exploration. we are are a people FREE TO BELIEVE in what others see as IMPOSSIBLE and not be told we CAN'T.
David, the eighth son, of an unknown family, the shepherd boy, became KING of Israel. He conquered the Giant Goliath, his army conquered that of King Saul, making him KING of ISRAEL and KING OF JUDAH. In between the two lay a strategic Canaanite city at the top of Mt. Zion. This city fortress was fortified with concentric walls, like the layers of an onion, or a bull's eye, such that if an attacking army broke through any outer defenses, they would encounter another wall and another, and trapped between these, you would be fired upon from all directions.
The point of our reading today, marks the shift in the history of Israel from Remembering MOSES on Mount SINAI receiving the LAW; to DAVID THE KING of a GREAT NATION, whose Capital is JERUISALEM THE CITY of DAVID atop MT. ZION. But how to take a Mountain? How to invade a Walled City, with no windows, and no doors? How to change from being a Nomadic People who looked back to MT. SINAI, to being a Great and Powerful Nation, a New United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, united in the City of Jerusalem, a city that had belonged to neither Israel nor Judah? The city was so well fortified, the Canaanites believed even the BLIND and LAME could defend it against any advancing army!
But the problem with DEFENSES is not only do they keep others out, at times they wall us in. Instead of seeing Concentric Walls of Defense to keep out invasion, David believed there had to be a different way into the center of the city. UP THE WATER SHAFT, means either that there were aquifers bringing fresh water into the city, or that there were sewers taking the waste out of the City. In either Case, David led his private army passed all the defenses into the center of the City. Then with an army fighting out from the center, and another fighting in from the outside, what had been defenses to keep invaders out, became walls that only got in the way.
Suddenly, this CITY FORTRESS that had never belonged to ISRAEL and had never Belonged to the Southern Nation of JUDAH, became the CITY OF DAVID, a HOLY CITY, a Place Apart. David envisioned a City where there would be no blindness, no poverty no one ever became ill, no need for defenses. A glorious new future. The heartache, is that their laws became new defenses, and Jerusalem became a city, where the Poor and Blind and Lame were outlawed. Would that today, we could ENVISION A NEW JERUSALEM, A City of God, that belonged to neither Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam, but a City of God where Poverty and Blindness and every manner of disease could be healed, where all could truly be free. What a marvelous world it could be, if everyone could trust and hope and believe!
Mark 6: 1-13
The Gospel asks a very basic question, foundational to all that comes after.
Are we Awed by the Power of God, Can We Believe?, or Do we Marvel at Humanity's UnBelief?
It is that basic a question:
DO you want to be Married or not? Do you believe and Do you want your child to love God?
Is this Bread and Grape, or Is this the Body and Blood of the Savior that bring us closer to God?
Are we so many individuals seeking our independence, or
a Nation that so believes in Freedom, we will fight for the freedom of others?
Can we deny ourselves, take up the cross, and be the body of Christ for others?
Jesus came to his own people, his Village, his home and family and they could not get beyond “This is Mary and Joseph's boy”, “My wife's brother”, “The one who used to be a Carpenter”, their UNBELIEF prevented them from faith.
The point of the Gospel is not the same as PETER PAN, that if you believe in FAIRIES and IMAGINATION clap your hands for Tinkerbell; but rather that our ability to accept God, our ability to forgive, to believe, to be the Church, to truly sacrifice, are all limited by our unbeliefs.
The State Lottery used to say: You've Gotta Be in it, to win it.
SO Jesus' instruction to the Apostles is that if people will not listen, if they do not want to believe, shake the dust off your feet and move on. IF they do believe, enter in, and do not leave that household, until you are ready to leave the City.
In many ways, television mirrors the culture's values and questions. In the 1950s we watched young newly wed couples Dick and Laura Petrie, Ricky and Lucy Ricardo as they struggled with married life and as they each gave birth of their first child. In the 70s it was the Blended family of The Brady Bunch. Today, there are shows about 10 unrelated people living in a house or on an island together.
In the 1980s, there was a Television Show called “All in the Family” revolving around Archie Bunker, his wife Edith, their daughter Gloria, and her husband Mike Stivik, who lived with her parents in a little two bedroom bungalow across the river from Manhattan. In a classic episode, newlyweds Mike and Gloria find out their Pregnant, and question whether in a world as hopeless as this, a world at war, a world economically depressed, a world whose latest Reality Show is Which State's Governor will self-destruct next, a world with AIDs and Cancers, a world with 10% Unemployment, a world so addicted to energy consumption that our pollution is changing the climate, do we have a right to subject a child to this?
And finally, after all the arguments not to believe, the next door neighbor says: “But who knows? Maybe the child born to you, will be the next Gandhi? the next President? whether she could be the next JFK or Martin Luther King? Whether maybe, just possibly God might work through this child to change the world, at least to change you? Can we afford to not believe? To not want to?
This Weekend is the Anniversary of our Nation's Independence. The point of which is NOT to be able to shoot off FIREWORKS. The point of our Nation is NOT FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY. The Point of of Nation is NOT CAPITALISM and NOT FREE ENTERPRISE.
The Composer IRVING BERLIN encapsulated in music a great deal of what this nation represents. There is a Classic Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney Movie “White Christmas” in which the four leading characters sing SNOW, describing all their childhood memories of pristine white. But originally Irving Berlin had a different One Syllable Word, as the Lyric for this tune: “FREE”, Free to close the door at night not worrying about security, Free not having to bow our knee, Free to believe as we believe, FREE. The Freedom that we strive for as a Nation, is a freedom to allow others to choose to believe as they desire, free to protest, free to complain, free to hope and free to dream of possibilities that seem to others impossible.
In 1960, the Russians had launched the first rocket with a dog inside, and our President established a goal that within the Decade we would put a man on the moon. 40 years ago, this month, we began lunar exploration. we are are a people FREE TO BELIEVE in what others see as IMPOSSIBLE and not be told we CAN'T.
David, the eighth son, of an unknown family, the shepherd boy, became KING of Israel. He conquered the Giant Goliath, his army conquered that of King Saul, making him KING of ISRAEL and KING OF JUDAH. In between the two lay a strategic Canaanite city at the top of Mt. Zion. This city fortress was fortified with concentric walls, like the layers of an onion, or a bull's eye, such that if an attacking army broke through any outer defenses, they would encounter another wall and another, and trapped between these, you would be fired upon from all directions.
The point of our reading today, marks the shift in the history of Israel from Remembering MOSES on Mount SINAI receiving the LAW; to DAVID THE KING of a GREAT NATION, whose Capital is JERUISALEM THE CITY of DAVID atop MT. ZION. But how to take a Mountain? How to invade a Walled City, with no windows, and no doors? How to change from being a Nomadic People who looked back to MT. SINAI, to being a Great and Powerful Nation, a New United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, united in the City of Jerusalem, a city that had belonged to neither Israel nor Judah? The city was so well fortified, the Canaanites believed even the BLIND and LAME could defend it against any advancing army!
But the problem with DEFENSES is not only do they keep others out, at times they wall us in. Instead of seeing Concentric Walls of Defense to keep out invasion, David believed there had to be a different way into the center of the city. UP THE WATER SHAFT, means either that there were aquifers bringing fresh water into the city, or that there were sewers taking the waste out of the City. In either Case, David led his private army passed all the defenses into the center of the City. Then with an army fighting out from the center, and another fighting in from the outside, what had been defenses to keep invaders out, became walls that only got in the way.
Suddenly, this CITY FORTRESS that had never belonged to ISRAEL and had never Belonged to the Southern Nation of JUDAH, became the CITY OF DAVID, a HOLY CITY, a Place Apart. David envisioned a City where there would be no blindness, no poverty no one ever became ill, no need for defenses. A glorious new future. The heartache, is that their laws became new defenses, and Jerusalem became a city, where the Poor and Blind and Lame were outlawed. Would that today, we could ENVISION A NEW JERUSALEM, A City of God, that belonged to neither Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam, but a City of God where Poverty and Blindness and every manner of disease could be healed, where all could truly be free. What a marvelous world it could be, if everyone could trust and hope and believe!
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